NASCAR Cup Series

Choosing to appeal penalty offers risks

Published Mar. 7, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Despite the announcement that Hendrick Motorsports is going to appeal the NASCAR penalty levied on the No. 48 car and various team members, I actually think it will be business as usual from those guys. Actually, they have been through this before over the years, so they are pretty familiar with the timeline of how it will all proceed.

Obviously Jimmie Johnson is determined to race through it. We saw that Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway when he was the dominant car early on. A mistake in the pits cost his team a chance of winning the race. Johnson and his team were never able to get all the way back to the front, but they were able to overcome that, and Jimmie finished fourth.

With the competition as tight as it is in NASCAR Sprint Cup racing, mistakes are killer in our business. Now the No. 48 has suffered through two of them. First was the C-post incident at Daytona that resulted in the penalties, and then the loose wheel at Phoenix, which I believe cost them a realistic shot at the win.

The appeal process will take place in the NASCAR offices in Charlotte. You bring any evidence or witnesses to that meeting. Basically, you present your case and hope the Appeals Board will rule in your favor.

A few years ago, Robby Gordon threw his helmet at me, but then I was fined for supposedly making an obscene gesture to him that I did not do. I really didn’t do it. The video evidence was clear I didn’t do it. So I had a 25-point and $10,000 penalty reversed. The Board sided with me.

My point is you can beat it. It’s never easy. You can get a full reversal of the decision or possibly a reduction of the fine. It is a double-edge sword, though, because they can make the penalty harsher if they so choose to. That’s the risk everyone faces when they file an appeal.

Honestly I don’t think we would see the No. 48 penalty increased. The loss of the crew chief and the car chief for six weeks and a $100,000 fine, plus the loss of 25 owner and 25 driver points, is already pretty steep. Twenty-five points under the new points system seems to be the baseline for folks who are fined by NASCAR.

Personally, if the penalty is upheld and not even reduced, I believe the No. 48 camp can overcome it. Again, we saw a glimpse of that last Sunday at Phoenix. To use a football analogy, they have a pretty deep bench. Let’s face it, you don’t win five consecutive championships without being something special. Jimmie Johnson has proved time and time again that he is something pretty special.

Now over on my side of the fence, I am just really proud of the whole Michael Waltrip Racing organization. We’ve come out of the box super strong. Mark Martin, at the young age of 53, gave our company its first pole position of the year last week.

He was strong in the race, but unfortunately we suffered a little bit with the electronic fuel injection, and that hurt the finishing position a little bit. He still was able to bring the ol’ Aaron’s Dream Machine home in the ninth spot Sunday.

The addition of Mark to Michael Waltrip Racing has been a shot in the arm and so invaluable across the board at MWR. Even at 53 years young, he has a youthful enthusiasm and is just so thrilled to continue to race. Whether you are a team member or one of our other drivers, you can’t help but be inspired by Mark.

I am very thankful that Mark came onboard. I know that our other drivers, Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr., feed off his energy and passion. We expect to put a number of wins on the board this season.

We are really pleased with how our new car is coming along. We used it in the final few races in 2011. Mark used the new car to sit on the pole at Phoenix. All three guys will have the new car at Las Vegas this weekend.

We have great momentum right now at MWR, and as long as we continue to give our drivers fast race cars, there is no reason that momentum can’t carry us into Victory Lane.